Roy French is shown the edgbaston door

WARWICKSHIRE’S players dispersed for the winter in high spirits after their amazing escape in the championship and the Clydesdale 40 triumph at Lord’s – but those spirits soon took a dampener as unwelcome news filtered through last week.

WARWICKSHIRE’S players dispersed for the winter in high spirits after their amazing escape in the championship and the Clydesdale 40 triumph at Lord’s – but those spirits soon took a dampener as unwelcome news filtered through last week.

The Bears squad was saddened to learn that dressing room attendant Roy French had been told he is out of a job.

“We do not believe it to be practical,” French was informed in a letter from chief executive Colin Povey, “to further extend your employment next season.”

French, 66, has run the Edgbaston dressing-rooms since 1993 and Warwickshire’s players regard him as one of their own. But they were not upset just because he is a mate.

He happens to have done a highly demanding job very well these 17 years, first with the admirable Ron King, who sadly died in 2004, and since with son Robin.

He served the club so devotedly he was labelled by Ian Bell, last week, as “everything that Warwickshire stands for” and a man who has “had a hand in all the successes the club has had over the years”.

Small Heath-born and a lifelong Bears follower, Roy French first got involved as a steward at Edgbaston in the 1980s then took over the dressing-rooms in ‘93. He has since been at the heart of the playing set-up.

Now past retirement age and hampered by an arthritic knee, he is first to acknowledge he couldn’t go on forever. But what he did crave was just one more season in 2011 to see the players back out of the makeshift base at the City End and ensconced in Edgbaston’s brand new pavilion next August.

“I know I can’t go on indefinitely but I wouldn’t want to try to do that anyway,” French said. “I would just have liked one more season to see the players back up the other end and settled into the new pavilion. Then I could say ‘right, that’s it, thanks a lot lads and all the best’.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to carry on if I wasn’t still up to the job. Yes, I’m a bit slower than I used to be but I have never in all the years had a complaint about me from Warwickshire or from any team, be it a county or an international side. On the contrary, people have said a lot of nice things about the care we take of them at Edgbaston. And that’s very important to me.

“I don’t want people going away from Edgbaston saying they weren’t treated well. I was always proud to represent Warwickshire and while, of course, I always want Warwickshire to win, or England if it is a Test match, I always felt visitors should be treated with respect.

“I’d say 98 per cent of the players and coaches I have known have been a pleasure to deal with. All the Warwickshire coaches were great, except for Mark Greatbatch. He said we looked after the opponents too well and said silly things like not to be friendly to Shane Warne or not to give Sussex any squash. But I don’t think that’s right. Opponents should be treated the way we want our team to be treated when they go away from home.”

That attitude explains why French will be missed not just within Warwickshire. He is a terrific ambassador for the county, highly regarded among other counties and Test-playing nations alike. Two recent examples. After the recent Clydesdale 40 final at Lord’s, defeated captain Marcus Trescothick invited him into the Somerset dressing-room - the ultimate compliment to an outsider. Meanwhile, Imran Tahir sent French a letter of the warmest appreciation straight after returning home following his stint as the Bears overseas player.

Last Friday, French left the Edgbaston dressing-rooms for the last time - as it stands.

“It has been a privilege working at Warwickshire,” said French. “I know I’ve been lucky to be part of such a great club. Straight after I joined in 1993 we won all those trophies and there have been some great years – and some not so great.

‘‘I knew the time was coming when it had to end but it would have been lovely for it to be next season.”